Having my car here has already been a huge blessing, though, even though it was dead for the first half of the week (silly me). Today, Anna and I went to Cool Beans and talked for a couple hours, mostly about God and He has really been speaking to us about recently, before having some intercession about our Camp Tuesday kids, Maeli and Tevin. We have to come up with 2 words that describe them, and a Bible verse for each word. It was really cool how God gave each of us a word for each child, and a different word to both of us. And tomorrow, I am driving to a church called Global Presence, which I have wanted to try out but no one really generally goes there. Anna and Annika have been and really wanted to go again, so again, my having a car is really great!
Anyway, this past week, the topic was one that was really big for me. It was like, summing up everything I have been working through with God for the past couple months! The topic was the Fear of the Lord. Our speaker was Dawn Bochers, who has actually been around since the beginning of DTS, since she is basically our school leader's boss.
The first thing Dawn really said was that the fear of the Lord really is just a growing intimacy with God. It is not being afraid of Him. I already knew, coming into the school, what fear of the Lord was- I remember thinking about it and figuring out what it was back in high school. And Dawn really confirmed what I believed it to be- just an awe and revering of Him (to revere being to regard with affectionate awe). Back in high school, it was the hymn How Great Thou Art that really helped me to see and understand what the fear of the Lord was.
Something God has been speaking to me about for a couple weeks now is intimacy with Him. I am not very good at being vulnerable with people, and intimacy is something that is hard for me- to be honest, it scares me and I don't know why. So I've been working on having an intimate relationship with God. So this week was really, really key for me. Keisha, during my one-on-one on Thursday, told me that she had felt like this was a really important week for me, and she had been praying for me a lot. :) Its awesome how God realized how important it was and knew that I would need the constant prayer.
I don't really know how to summarize this week, so I shall just write a few quotes from my notes:
"God doesn't play favourites. You can be as close to God as you want to be. God doesn't set boundaries on how close to Him you can be."
We had a list of things that we look for in a friend (trustworthy, engaged, loyal, etc) "God is all these things. What are we going to do with it? And does God find these things in me?"
"God's holiness doesn't make Him unapproachable. It makes Him safe (to be with). You can trust Him. He'll always do what is right."
"Don't be afraid of God, but take Him seriously."
"How you live shows what you value. How do you spend your time, money, and what you talk about show what's important to you."
"God is not rejecting you for what you've done in your life. He is saying 'come to me, bring it to me so we can deal with it together.'"
"When God speaks, it is not His opinion- it is the truth. So we need to agree with God."
"You MUST also forgive yourself. If God has forgiven you, you do NOT have the right to say 'no, I'm not'."
"Are you going to judge God based on your experiences, or your experiences based on what God says and who He is?"
One last thing I wanted to just quickly mention was when Dawn was talking about how you can grow in your fear of the Lord. She said we need to be honest about where we are- don't pretend to be somewhere you are not. It doesn't do you any good. She compared to to going to meet someone at Starbucks in the Mall of America. You don't know where it is in the mall. You park, and then go find a map. There are two things on the map that are important- where the Starbucks is, and where you are. If you find that you have parked on the opposite side of the mall from Starbucks, it doesn't do you any good to pretend that you parked there. If you try to get to Starbucks by pretending you are somewhere else, it won't work. You need to start where you are, whether you like that place or not, and go from there. It is the same in your spiritual journey. If you wish you were farther than you are, it doesn't do you any good to pretend that you are thus there. You have to start where you are. God doesn't condemn you for where you are- He will work with you! So just begin by asking God to show you where you are, and by being honest about it.
Well, it is getting late and I really should go to bed- I have to leave for church tomorrow a lot earlier than I usually do! But I'm pretty impressed I got this post done- I did not expect to!
Blessings,
Katie
I like to doodle during class
The coveted heart mug! I had never gotten it before, and this one day when I was just sad, I got it :) It was like God's present to me :)
The Capitol! This was last night, at the Hot-Cocoa-thon, where we successfully passed out 1,000 cups of hot chocolate.
Earlier this week, we decorated for Christmas! Jordyn decided that she wanted to be a tree for awhile.
Our real Christmas tree! Brook and Gabe, the 2 male staff, cut it down from our backyard :P
Our doorways are also decorated for Christmas- lights around all the doorways! I love Christmas :)
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